Cuomo misrepresented COVID-19 nursing home toll, report says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The New York Assembly's investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's conduct in office concluded the Democrat's administration misrepresented how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19, according to a lawmaker who reviewed the committee's still-secret report.

Assembly Member Phil Steck was among the Assembly Judiciary Committee members who were able to review a copy of the approximately 45-page report Thursday and Friday in advance of its public release, possibly as soon as next week.

The report, compiled by the New York City law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, covers a wide array of allegations of misconduct by Cuomo, including sexual harassment claims and the participation of his staff in writing his book on the coronavirus pandemic.

Other topics include the Cuomo administration's manipulation of data on COVID-19 deaths as presented to the public.

The Associated Press and other news organizations reported on gaps in the state's statistical accounting of fatalities, including the administration's decision to exclude from its nursing home death totals thousands of patients who died after being transferred to hospitals.

The Davis Polk investigators confirmed press reports that the state Department of Health wanted to include those hospital deaths in the state's nursing home fatality count.

“The investigation showed that as they were considering these matters, the book deal was going on, there's a chapter in the book about nursing homes,” said Steck, a Democrat who represents part of the Albany area. “They were trying to make it as what they thought was least damaging to the governor instead of just telling the truth.”

Cuomo’s resignation in August stymied the law firm’s efforts to interview witnesses about the misrepresentation of nursing...